Resting Easily
by Weiila
Summary: How do you cope with the pressure of being pretty much the sole reason the toads haven't yet achieved complete domination? Of course, when you're Captain Bucky O'Hare, you cope. Everyone knows that. Except for most of Bucky's crew, who know the truth.


Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

Resting easily

They took turns. Always had, always would. In the depth of space there was no day or night, only their own body clocks ticking and telling them when it was time to sleep. But all kinds of clocks can be reset, though some require a little training.

Blinky didn't need to sleep, but the five other members of the crew did. They had set a schedule, so that for a few hours each day there were only two or three of them awake at once. It worked out well… usually.

For a long time Deadeye tried to ignore it, because he had made a promise to Bucky and Jenny not to bring it up again. However, one day Willy pulled the ex-pirate aside and asked a question that he shouldn't have asked. Seeing Deadeye press his beak shut and pull down his hat over his remaining eye, the kid realized that he had made a mistake and nervously started babbling. Something about looking in books about the hares back home on his planet, and just starting to think.

Just starting to think.

The last thing they needed was for people to start to think.

But, nobody on the crew would ever tell anybody who didn't belong on the ship. Willy did, but… he was just a kid. Would he understand?

"Ay, me laddie…" Deadeye finally murmured, still trying to decide how much to tell the kid. He attempted to grin as he saw Willy's spooked look. "It's just that-"

"I mean, I'm- I'm not here that much, only when it's an emergency but…"

Willy's babbling trailed off and he looked helplessly at the four-armed duck. Nodding just to get an extra second to think, Deadeye made his decision.

Even if he was on the crew, Willy didn't need to know the truth. He definitely didn't seem ready for it. As long as the kid kept appearing and leaving as randomly as he had always done, he could be shielded from the secret.

Bruiser had not said much when he found out the truth, but as a baboon there was no way he could hide his anger. The fact that he, like the rest of them, understood that this was nothing he could do anything about, only made him more furious. That had been a very, very painful day for the toads indeed.

Even as he thought about it a surge of anger shot through Deadeye, but he quickly turned away so as not to confuseWilly with the look in the lone eye. Of course, the fury died as quickly as it had appeared, turning into a dull irritation. It had nowhere to go. There was nothing to shoot or beat up that could make this situation any better.

He shook himself out of it. Willy was still staring at him, blue eyes begging for an answer. The tense air had only perplexed him further.

Good going, duckie.

"Willy me lad," Deadeye said, forcing another grin. "It's a bit of a legend. You know…" He waved his arms about, taking on a sensationalist tone in a hushed hiss. "The great Captain Bucky O'Hare never sleeps - always vigilant, always ready to croak toads!"

He chuckled slightly, seeing Willy's face relax just a little.

"Of course the cap'n sleeps, laddie," the duck said, softer this time. "Ye've just never been around when he does."

This time Willy chuckled as well.

"From the way you acted when I asked, I almost thought you'd say he's a vampire or something," he said.

Willy was still nervous, from the sound of his voice. This time however, Deadeye just blinked.

"A what now, laddie?"

"A vampire?"

There had been a time when Willy seemed a bit taken aback in these kinds of situations – he would mention something that seemed crystal clear to him, and his furry and feathery friends would react with confusion. By now however, he was so used to it that he hardly missed a beat.

"Vampires are fairytale monsters back on my planet," he said, pushing his glasses back as he pondered how to explain. "They're dead people risen from the grave, who feed on the blood of living people. And they sleep in coffins during the day, because sunlight kills them… oh. I guess they do sleep."

As Willy let out an embarrassed chuckle Deadeye rubbed the underside of his beak with one of his many hands.

"Never heard of anything like it," the pirate finally said. Then he grinned, giving Willy a slap over the back that almost sent him flying. "But it kinda suits the cap'n. See, when he's out, he's out like the dead."

They shared a moment of tense amusement before Deadeye changed the subject. Afterwards, he couldn't remember what they had talked about, but Willy had jumped at the chance to chat about something else. Relieved to leave it behind.

It would not leave Deadeye behind, however.

Hours later, when Willy had gone back through the door, the ex-pirate bided his time. He counted carefully, measuring how much longer it would be until Jenny woke up and went to relieve Bucky from the command seat.

Things seemed to be rather calm right now, so chances were the captain would actually risk it this "night".

Deadeye sneaked closer to the ladder going up into the control room, straining his tiny ears. The constant hum of the engines below and the buzzing life support systems made it more difficult, but…

He almost missed the popping sound, but he had been waiting for it. With agility trained from the moment he learnt to walk and grab hold of things, Deadeye climbed the ladder.

A brief flash of guilt passed through the duck when Bucky spun around on his seat, pink eyes bleary and bloodshot. And in his hand, an opened medicine bottle. Three pills lay in his other palm, stark white against the red glove.

They stared at each other for a moment, until Deadeye stepped up on the floor properly, adjusting his hat. Without a word, Bucky clenched his hand around the pills.

"Arr, Bucky me boy…" Deadeye started.

The friendly, familiar greeting did nothing to make either of them relax. Deadeye decided to just face it head on, and folded his upper arms.

"Methinks you promised Jenny to cut down." He held up three fingers on a free hand, tilting his head slightly.

"I have."

But Bucky didn't look his gunner in the eye.

"Cap'n-"

"Don't!"

Even Deadeye was taken aback for a second. That apparently clicked something within Bucky's mind, as he took in a deep breath and tried to relax.

"These aren't the old ones. Jenny got them for me." He closed the bottle and threw it into a box below the control panel, which he then shut with a little more force than necessary. "With these, even if I pop three of them you should be able to wake me up during an emergency."

He stared at the darkness of space, away from Deadeye. The ex-pirate winced at the words, remembering an emergency long ago – they were attacked, Bucky asleep. And nothing, not even emptying a bowl of water over his face, had managed to wake him up. Jenny had been forced to command quite an anxious crew.

It had not been a good day for anyone when Bucky finally _did_ wake up and started asking why they were heading towards the nearest friendly planet for repairs. Until then, Deadeye hadn't actually known the truth either. Only Jenny had. Bruce and Blinky had both been equally shocked – or, as shocked as Blinky's programming allowed him to be. He did not go on a rampage through the woods of the planet they landed on, unlike Bruce.

It was a hopeless fury however, because there was nothing anyone of them could do to help even when the ugly reality was bared to them. Anger aimed towards themselves for not realizing just how much the stress was crushing their captain.

And afterwards came the next realization, and the fear. Safely back in space, Bucky rounded up the entire crew and explained as well as he could.

"_First of all I'm _not _addicted." _

That did give them a nervous sense of relief – but then, that's what addicted people tend to tell themselves and those close to them.

"_Second, none of this leaves the ship."_

As if he had to tell them that. It only made the fury worse, but nobody lashed out. What could they aim their rage at?

They were furious for not asking themselves the question before - 'How does he cope?'. Deadeye had been wondering, but had brushed it off. After all, they all coped, and the adrenaline and steady stream of small victories against the toads, kept him up at all hours. Yet he had never realized that as a gunner, the pressure on him was not half of what Bucky constantly lived under.

How do you cope with being pretty much the only thing keeping an evil empire from dominating the aniverse? How do you cope with fighting a lone fight, when your bosses are too stingy to actually help you with the means to put up a real fight?

How do you cope, even when you're a living legend?

Of course, when you're Bucky O'Hare, you cope. Everyone knows that.

But the truth was, Bucky couldn't cope.

He had reached his limit years ago, but never been allowed to stop.

"_You gotta understand. I'm Bucky O'Hare. When I'm on this ship, I'm your captain. When I'm off the ship, I'm either the council of Genus' rowdy pet rabbit, or a prisoner of the toads." He looked at them, pausing to let them say anything if they wanted. But they didn't, so he went on, calmly. As if he had been practicing to tell them this. "I can't sleep. And I mean I _can't _sleep."_

_He held up the bottle of pills._

"_Without these I can't even make myself close my eyes. There's so much in here…" he tapped the side of his head, "so much, always screaming about things I have to do, that I can't relax. These pills force me to let go. I don't like it, but I need them. If I didn't take them I'd never be able to sleep. I'd mess up in the middle of a fight. Or die of exhaustion right before your eyes."_

They never promised him not to tell anybody. They didn't have to, because they all knew what would happen if they let the information slip. They didn't want Bucky to lose his command.

The council expected him to follow orders and save them, but they did not like him. He raised too much of a fuss about more ships and funding. If the truth came out in the open they would fall over this juicy information like crazed sharks and twist it around so that no matter what Bucky said, he would be turned into a drug addict in the public's eye.

And the council would be rid of him, free to find a new captain for _The Righteous Indignation_, one who followed orders, one who didn't complain, one who didn't take chances until told so, one who didn't think for himself.

The kind of captain who would be chewed up alive by the toads, who failed, leaving the rest of the aniverse open for the taking. And Bucky would only be able to watch from inside whatever hospital the council locked him up in. Wait and watch until the toads burst open the door and carried him off to KOMPLEX, to die as a symbol for the triumphant empire.

But right now, he was as safe as he could be. As any of them could be.

Looking at his captain, Deadeye too knew that the pills were needed. As bloodshot as Bucky's eyes were, as much as he slumped in his chair, and as much as Deadeye knew the hare had been going non-stop for the last three days… there was still a wild glint in his gaze as he threw the pills into his mouth, chomped down and swallowed.

Even now, he could not defeat the part of his mind that screamed "_you can't sleep! You don't have TIME to sleep! You'll wake up and find everyone dead!"_

"Cap'n," Deadeye said, so softly that Bucky looked at him in surprise. "I wouldn't be pulling your anchor 'bout this, ye know I wouldn't."

"Unless it's important," Bucky said.

The captain had already begun to blink. Even standing there, Deadeye heard a door open below. The sound was soon followed by the clack-clack of Jenny's footsteps as she walked towards the ladder. Bucky, having far superior hearing, had probably heard her move about much earlier than Deadeye had – thus why he had dared to pop the pills into his mouth, knowing he could soon hand over the command to Jenny.

"Aye," Deadeye continued, as Jenny made her way upwards. "See, Willy went and asked me if ye ever sleep. I told 'im he just haven't seen it yet."

The lady First Mate stepped up behind the duck, but said nothing.

Bucky smiled slightly, eyes on half mast. The drugs dulled and killed what remained of his earlier frustration as they raced through his system, rapidly shutting him down.

"Better let him…" he yawned and got to his feet, "see it sometime later then…"

Stumbling as he walked towards the ladder, he accepted the hands he was offered as he climbed down. Once sure that their captain had reached the floor safely, Deadeye and Jenny straightened up, exchanging glances.

They both pretended they didn't hear Bucky noisily collide with the wall on his way towards the sleeping chamber.

Deadeye didn't speak until he was sure that Bucky had gone inside and closed the door. Only then did the ex-pirate murmur his question.

"How d'ya get him enough pills, lass?"

Jenny shook her head, looking away for a second.

"I tell some friends of mine I have trouble sleeping," she finally said. "But I don't know how much longer they will buy that excuse."

With a sigh she sat down, her hair rustling.

"He doesn't use them often, so there's no worry that they will question the amount, but…"

She trailed off. Deadeye didn't comment.

That wasn't what either of them feared.

Someday Bucky could take too many pills in one gulp, without realizing it – because the ordained amount no longer would be enough.

And then he wouldn't wake up.

Deadeye clenched his teeth. They would just have to win this war before that happened. Muttering a goodbye to Jenny he climbed down the ladder, heading back to his watch by the cannon.

He was going to pass by and not take a look. That was what he would do. Nothing else.

But when he had walked a few steps past the sleeping chamber, Deadeye found himself turning around before he even realized he was doing it.

Bad, bad, _bad_!

But he cautiously opened the door and peeked inside. The lamps in the ceiling automatically lit up – but slowly, and the light never became too bright.

Bucky had fallen on the nearest cot, one arm hanging off the side and head barely touching the lower end of the pillow. Not even bothering – or having time to – pull the cover over himself or even take off his uniform.

Shaking his head Deadeye stepped inside on silent feet. It was a bad idea, but Bucky would never ask who had done it.

Very carefully, using every skill of a pickpocket, Deadeye loosened the straps on his captain's shoulder pads. With a light pull they came off, and with them he could remove the cloak.

Bucky did not stir or make a single sound apart from his slow, even breathing while Deadeye folded the cloak and put it on one of the other cots. From the same simple bed the gunner pulled a blanket which he then spread over the sleeping hare.

Letting out a sigh, Deadeye turned and left, his faith in Bucky's ability to wake up during an emergency shaky to say the least.

He seated himself in his gunner's chair, taking comfort in the familiar grip of the cannon's triggers.

What would it cost to send the cap'n on a vacation? Unfortunately, a more pressing question would be, "How much rope do we need to tie Bucky up with to make him go in the first place?"

Back to square one. Deadeye glared at the twinkling stars in the eternal blackness of space.

They just had to win the war.

The End.


End file.
